It’s been a big couple years

So, I have a lot to catch you up on! I’ll go chronologically as much as I can remember. Without further ado, here we go.

 

Update number 1: This guy

 

 

 

This is Nick. We’ve been together for almost 2 years, which may shock you because as many of you know, I am bad at feelings. But this guy stuck with me through all of my weirdness and, brace yourself, I love him. He’s thoughtful, hilarious, generous, and fun.

 

WHOO feelings. Okay. Moving on.

 

Update number 2: I graduated!

I am a MASTER OF PUBLIC HEALTH

 

Update number 3: I got a job

I am now working for a non-profit that’s contracted to Medicare for quality improvement. I’ve been there for a year and working in my field so quickly out of school is a blessing.

In related news, I’ve become an angry Michigan commuter.

 

Update number 4: I gained two wonderful sisters

Our family’s pretty great.

 

Update number 5: My parents moved to Michigan! 

They are only 2 hours away from me now. I haven’t lived this close to them since I lived in their house and I’m pretty excited.

My mom came down one weekend and we went kayaking BECAUSE WE CAN NOW

AND I get to see their puppies so much more often.

 

Update number 6: I became an aunt 🙂 

LOOK AT HOW CUTE MY NIECE IS

 

Update number 7: Adulthood is hard.

I’ve had a lot of great things happen, including all of those things above. I have an income, I got a real bed, I have wonderful friends. But honestly the expectations and requirements of managing my adult life have been very challenging for me and it’s been an exhausting learning curve.

 

Update number 8: Cat picture

A lot of things in my life are taking some getting some used to but here’s something that’s been a constant: my very needy cat.

 

But that’s all I’ve got for now. Thanks for reading, and I’ll write again soon.

Back at it again

Hi everyone,

It’s been a long time.

I originally thought I would just let this blog go – I did actually write (albeit rarely) about everything I set out to. In my blog description I wrote “I muddle through moving away from home, exploring a new city, and starting my first year of grad school”. I wrote not only through starting my first year of grad school but to finishing my first year!

Okay, I know I’m stretching there, but I’ll tell you what.  I did something this afternoon that I normally wouldn’t – I scrolled through my Facebook page. I’m real bad about social media, as you may have noticed. For instance, the other day Nick told me that it’s weird that I don’t respond to comments on things. [Yes, someone had to tell me that. So apologies if I’ve ever ignored you. I do read and appreciate your comments, and I’m working on getting better about actually, you know, showing that.] But as I scrolled through, I saw all of the wonderful things that the more wonderful people in my life have put up there and encouraged me through. I also saw old blog posts and was reminded how nice it was to have this connection with people I don’t reach out to enough on my own.

My life recently has been mostly adjusting to my first full-time job and trying to actually eat quality food once in a while. I’m finding it a lot harder than it should be and basically all of my time has been absorbed through that. I’ve had it drilled into my head over the last few weeks that I need to take care of myself though, and a large part of that is not allowing myself to become isolated; SO all that to say, I’m going to be writing here a bit more! I’ll start out with a quick catch-up on the last 2 years (wow it’s been a long time), but if there’s anything in particular I should write about, please let me know! I always love hearing from you, even though I’m terrible at showing it.

As a token of my affection, here is an otter that also happens to be a reflection of how I’ve been eating these days.

 

Be back soon!

I just finished my first year of grad school?!?

Whoa.

Life is crazy sometimes, you know? For instance, on this day last year, I had just accepted admission to Michigan, and there is a 98% chance I was freaking out/trying not to think about it. Today, I’ve just finished my first year of grad school, and there is a 98% chance I am freaking out/trying not to think about it.

Just kidding.
Mostly.

In all honesty, today I’ve been thinking about the crazy journey that this last year has been. So, here commences a sappy reflections post. Continue reading at your own risk.
Large parts of the drama are already on this blog, so I’ll try not to reiterate.

Last April, my dad took me on a road trip to Ann Arbor to come to admitted students day at the school of public health. I spent the whole day listening to faculty talk about how passionate they were about teaching and listening to staff give us every possible resource we could ever need. I listened to a student panel talk about their experiences here and their fancy internships and I wondered how their lives could possibly be so successful. Despite my disbelief that I could possibly live up to that standard, I left that day convinced that Michigan was the right choice for me.

In August I started my coursework in the general epidemiology track.. because I had no idea what I wanted to specialize in. When I looked at the two-year plan for the track though, I was daunted by the amount of biostats and programming I was going to have to learn. Also, my “Intro to Epidemiology” class was the least introduction-like class I had ever taken.

Cue overwhelming anxiety.

Little did I know, though, that those classes were going to be some of the most fun I had ever taken. It was really challenging, but I felt encouraged to meet every challenge. Everything I learned fascinated me and I was so excited to keep moving deeper into my field. Through our broad introduction to all the areas of epid, I realized what I actually want to do. I want to be.. *drumroll please* ..an infection preventionist!

This is where I picture you going:

Which makes sense. But the job feels like what my brain was created for, you know? It’s a combination of all of the things that make me nerd out and get a little too excited when I talk about them – all of those things that make people’s eyes glaze over as soon as I get really into it.

So in February, with much anticipation, I applied for an internship in infection prevention (thank you Benjamin!) and waited in suspense for WEEKS. Finally after a ridiculous amount of “Anne, there’s nothing you can do about it now, let it goooo” self-peptalks, I got an interview and a placement! I’m going to be one of two interns in the biggest network of hospitals in Detroit! My supervisor seems fantastic, and I am really excited to be able to learn from people that are enthusiastic about these things as I am.

All of these things seemed like the most ordinary possible events in my life. I stressed about classes, stressed about tests, stressed about applications (you get the idea), but I just took everything one day at a time. I didn’t realize that all of those days added up to some pretty cool things. Until this April, that is.

I am an ‘admissions ambassador’ for our school, and they asked me to be part of a student panel on admitted students day. The administrators chose me to be one of the few students representing our school to the hundreds of possible new recruits. I was enthusiastic as always to keep ambassadoring (ambassadorizing?) and lead tours, answer questions, that kind of thing. It didn’t hit me basically until I was standing in front of the crowd of admitted students that I am that successful Michigan student that I wondered at. I am that confident and collected and excited student that has nothing but opportunities in front of her.

Who’d’ve ever seen that one coming, right? Certainly not me.

So now that I’m on the other side of the school year and have had a chance to actually reflect on all of this, here is where I am:
I am very thankful that my perception is not always correct.
I’m thankful to look back and see God’s provision in my life even though I was questioning him every step of the way.
And I am ridiculously thankful for the people that took all of my anxiety in stride and supported me even when I was frustratingly incorrigible.

My life has been so blessed – both by the friends I had to move away from and by the ones that I was lucky enough to meet here. I’ve learned a lot this year, and I think I’ve even grown a little bit, too. So thank you all for supporting me through all of my quavering and uncertainty and through the surprising journey that this year has been. I can only hope that some day I’ll have the opportunity to show you as much love as you’ve shown me.

Thank you, everyone.

BUT WHOOO THAT WAS A LOT OF FEELINGS, WASN’T IT?
Here is an adorable gif to lighten this back up, as a thank you for making it all the way to the end of that maelstrom.

..I find that otters are perfect for pretty much every situation.

So thanks again, all you wonderful people. I’ll try to write about my internship as soon as I can. Until then, goodbye!

A Summary of My First Semester

Hello! Remember when I asked you what you would be interested in hearing about on this blog? Well, here it is, three months later. I figured now that since my first semester is over, this would be the time to write about it seeing as it’s pretty much irrelevant. I’ll divide it up by category so you can skip over any parts you don’t want to read about. Okay? Let’s do it.

General Thoughts/Ann Arbor:

1. Everyone here uses an insane amount of acronyms. I was totally lost for over a month because nobody from Michigan actually speaks English.
2. Everyone is SHORT. At school I tower over all of the other students and I feel like King Kong. Agh. Its probably be because the school is 70% female, but that doesn’t make me feel like any less of a weirdo.
3. Ann Arbor is beautiful. It’s got a beautiful old downtown and trees everywhere, so, especially in the fall, it was gorgeous. They also have great Christmas lights. And a Singin’ in the Rain mural that immediately won my heart.
4. AND THE RIVER. LOVE THE RIVER. It looks like it was designed for lazy tubing.

5. Tons of bike paths that are great to run on
6. VERY AGGRESSIVE DRIVERS

My Apartment:

Is great! I have a studio with an entirely purple bathroom (the tub, tiles, and walls are all lavender, which I love.) It’s remarkably quiet. I don’t see my neighbors much, but when I do they’re very friendly and nice to talk to. Most days on my walk home I pass a woman out on a walk with her baby in a stroller. It’s just very nice.

My complex is a 15 minute walk from my school and a 5 minute walk from an awesome little park on the river. So, all in all, my dad (who did basically all of the work to find this apartment) knocked it out of the park.

School:

AWESOME.

The classes are pretty similar to my undergrad – lecture and discussion format, stuff like that – but so much cooler. The curriculum is designed so all of the classes work together. My homework almost always requires use of concepts from all of my classes in combination and it makes everything so much more interesting. It’s different from undergrad, though, in two main areas.
1. Everybody actually wants to be there. Huge and awesome difference.
2. The focus is much more on the students learning than the teachers just droning on at us. That’s what I felt like in so many of my science lectures in undergrad. It could not have mattered less if we showed up or not. But here, all of the faculty and staff seem like they genuinely want to help the students in any way possible, and they are all really passionate about the work that they do. It’s great.

A Day in the Life:

I feel like my days are pretty much what you would expect from grad student days. I wake up early, blearily glare at the wall for a while, finally get up, feed the cat, get ready, etc.  Then I hop on the bus and go to school! My school days generally have some combination of lecture, discussions, workshops, labs, and then working on homework. Then I come home, make some semblance of food, then inhale it while fighting off Munchkin. She insists on being in my lap and likes to stick her face in my food. Then I usually watch some TV and collapse into bed!

I wish that sounded more exciting.. sorry. I think it’s wonderful because the stuff I’m learning is super exciting, but from the outside it sounds very dull. I’m in a cool student org that basically deploys us as volunteers anywhere public health help is needed, so I got to do some cool things with that. I worked at clinics where they gave free flu shots a few times, so maybe that makes my days a little more exciting?

My stress generally revolves around trying to find an internship. I want to work in infection prevention and internship opportunities are very rare, so I’m almost always trying to figure out how I’m going to swing that. Blarg. I think it will be really exciting if I can convince someone to hire me! The work sounds like everything I nerd out about all at once. But until then.. more lectures and discussions.

My fun stuff usually comes from my chances to volunteer or my Bible study. Volunteering breaks my routine up in almost always interesting ways. The people in Bible study have lots of game nights, we make food together, watch movies, stuff like that. So it’s fun!

Munchkin:

Very cat-like. I like her a lot. I don’t think I’ve mentioned that she was named Munchkin at the shelter because she’s a little cat – something like 7.5 pounds. I have come to be extremely grateful for her size because she likes to sit on my neck like an intrusive, purring scarf. If she was any heavier, I think I’d suffocate.

I’m pretty sure she’s got a crush on Jason Mraz, because she does this when I play his music:

She sheds more than any other cat I’ve ever seen, but she’s super soft so I get over it. It can be unfortunate though, because if there is anywhere she can sit on me, she will.

My clothes are virtually never cat hair-less.

Oh, and she sleeps like Superman.

So, overall, Ann Arbor has been very good to me. I can’t say the transition here was easy, because it just wasn’t. At all. In fact, I was miserable for a while at first. But eventually I was able to get connected, make some friends, and get more familiar with the city, and I’m certain that coming here was the right choice. The loneliness and stress were worthwhile for the new adventure.

So now I’m on to my next semester! I get to take more classes in my specialization – hospital epidemiology and clinical microbiology – so I’m pumped. This semester I’ll have more volunteering opportunities, and since I’m getting more comfortable with my routine and the area, I think it will be fun.

I hope that gives you some idea of my life! Let me know if there’s anything you else you want to know. 🙂

Here is a red panda, as a token of my love.

Finally a Real Adult

Hi everyone! Long time no see. Sorry about that. I’ve been extremely busy since school started getting going, and I promise to write about all of that soon! But since it’s recent and exciting, this post is going to be about my birthday. Woo!

This was the birthday when I finally became a legitimate adult. The big 21. At Iowa (the number one party school), this celebration would have probably been over the top. Here, though, where I still knew very few people, I was picturing myself drinking alone in the dark.

BUT thankfully, that was not the case! I ended up having a very pleasant birthday. I started it off with a biostats test at 8 AM.. ugh. But it was nice to have that done early. When I finished classes I got to come home and open the awesome gifts that my even more awesome brothers sent me! That was exciting.

That night I had Bible study, and they had made me a cake! I didn’t know they even knew it was my birthday, so it was a really nice surprise. I completely failed at blowing out the candles, but they let me have a second shot at it, and I think I redeemed myself a little bit.

Then when they found out it was, in fact, my 21st birthday, they would not hear of me NOT celebrating. So a big group took me out to a place that makes craft beers and I got to try several! The waiter looked at me like I was a total weirdo when I told him I didn’t know what I liked to drink, but once he got past that, he brought me a bunch of samples.

They all tasted varying degrees of horrible.

..I think beer will be an acquired taste. But it was still tons of fun! All of the delightful people in the group made my birthday so much better than I thought it would be.

I got to continue enjoying my official adulthood that weekend as well! I was invited to a winery tour/tasting in Canada, so I took a inter-country day trip with some lovely friends.

We started off with the winery tour, which was pretty cool. One of the best parts was the barrel room where they let the wine age in oak:

The tour itself was awesome, despite our tour guide being extremely blasé. I don’t think she could have been less enthused about our presence. But she still served us wine, so that made it a little bit better. I liked the wine tasting much more than the beer attempt.

The rest of the day was spent in a Canadian national park! We stood on the southernmost tip of the country looking out on the Great Lakes.. which I am not convinced are actually lakes.

But the park was beautiful, especially with the leaves turning.

On the way back, we stopped for the Canadian staple, poutine. Gravy, french fries, and cheese curds. I know that sounds kind of gross, but it was DELICIOUS. And a wonderful way to round off the day.

So all in all, being a restriction-free adult has been wonderful so far, pretty much all due to the people that I’m lucky to know.

As for the non-brithday parts of my life, I’ll write about the topics you guys suggested soon, I promise! Thank you for giving them! Until then though, here is an adorable otter.

Settling In

So with the help of my wonderful parents, I got all moved into my new apartment! We spent a few days arranging the furniture and stocking up food and stuff, then we went to the Humane Society here, which is super duper nice. It was a little bit overwhelming.  They had a huge number of animals. We spent about two hours there just trying to meet cats that might get along with me. Eventually we got it narrowed down though! Soo (drumroll please)

meet Munchkin!

 

She’s pretty cute.

She’s very much a typical cat. She loves laps, toys, and sitting in the places that are as in the way as they can possibly be. Places like, you know, my pillow, my computer, my NECK. 

 

But I think it’s a sign that she’s comfortable with me, which makes me happy! She’s been acclimating really well, except for an unfortunate incident with a jerk raccoon. The little vermin pounced at her while she was just sitting in the window. Not only did the raccoon claw up my screen, but the poor cat was so freaked out that she basically fell out of the window sill and was growling the whole rest of the night. I’m trying not to harbor resentment against raccoons, but I’m not succeeding particularly well. But the overly-aggressive little furball was just a blip in my week that was otherwise filled with orientation activities.

Orientations have never been my favorite thing. This one was about the same as any other; it was filled with a bunch of sessions about how we need to take advantage of opportunities and all of that information, then we learned how to be ‘cultural beings.’ Still not my favorite thing.  

We did spend a day volunteering at a local health department and gleaners farm, though, and that was pretty cool! I rounded off the week by taking an algebra test and playing some kickball with my fellow future epidemiologists (we are all skilled athletes, let me tell you). All in all, it was about as orientating as any other orientation, and I am very happy to be done. 

All of my orientation knowledge will be tested on Tuesday when my classes start! I’m taking some things that I’m really pumped about: Biologic Basis of Disease, Infectious Disease Epidemiology, and Intro to Epidemiology! It’s going to be cool. 

So I’ll write more after my classes get going to keep you guys updated! Wish me luck! 🙂 

 

Moving Day #3: The Trip to Ikea

So I apologize for the delay on this one! I forgot I wouldn’t have internet in my apartment for a while. But here we go!

 

We woke up early to get moving and arrived at my apartment bright and early. I signed a whole bunch of paperwork and learned all of the property rules and whatnot, then I went to see my apartment! It is delightful. The oven is hilariously tiny, but other than that it is surprisingly roomy for a 400 square foot studio. It was also extremely clean, which made my little perfectionist heart very happy. I’ll upload pictures as soon as it’s in any state of order again! 

It’s in chaos right now because of that wonderful, confusing place: Ikea. We drove up to Ikea almost as soon as we arrived in Ann Arbor. My parents held up like champs as I wandered around the showrooms picking out a bed and shelves and a table and chairs and stools and lamps and everything else under the sun and piled it all on them. We made it to the checkout after about 3 hours, totally exhausted, and then faced the daunting task of trying to fit all of the boxes in the car. There were a lot. My dad, though, is a packing master and squeezed about 100 cubic feet of boxes into 50 feet of space.

 

I wish I had taken a picture because it was seriously insane. Mom and I had to both squeeze in the passenger seat on the way back, but we only needed one trip, which is a miracle. 

After we hauled it all back into the apartment, we spent the next eight hours putting all of the furniture together. If you’re ever feeling like a fun character-building experience, assemble some furniture. You haven’t lived until you’ve yelled at a piece of wood. 

Despite the huge projects, though, all of my furniture came together very nicely! (Pictures to come) It fits in my apartment and will be lovely to use.  

We also braved a trip to Meijer (Walmart equivalent) to pick up some food, because we thought, “hey, that stuff is pretty good. We earned some sustenance.” But the traffic on the way there was horrific. I think it took 45 minutes to travel 4 miles.

Once we got there it was just fine, though. Everything we needed was easily found and there was a very nice man working who saw me wandering around and helped me find all the deals. We made it back (less traffic this time) and ate our delicious reward on my newly assembled table, which held up beautifully.

 

 

But that was it for the day! We couldn’t have handled much more if we wanted to. The next few days will be quiet, but I’ll hopefully be getting a cat, so I’ll write an update then! 

Moving Day #2: Moving Right Along

Today was very quiet! Which is very nice for traveling, but not as nice for blogging. We drove a few hours,

      

then we arrived at the state line between Illinois and Indiana. We stopped for a little while at a little park there

       

but then hopped right back on the highway and kept going. We arrived safely to our hotel for tonight and went to dinner! Sushi and Korean. Oh yes. (In true blogger style, food pictures incoming)

  

It was delicious. But that was the most excitement of the day! Tomorrow we only have two hours left to Ann Arbor, then we move into my apartment and the real excitement begins. I’ll write again in the aftermath!

Finally Here! Moving Day #1: Ridiculously Friendly Robins and Street Racing

The day finally arrived! This morning we packed the car BEAUTIFULLY, left Iowa, and covered about 450 miles on our way to Ann Arbor. ..Only 350 more.

The eight hours we drove today were largely uneventful. It looked mostly like this:

except for two moments.

The first – I’m pretty sure I got challenged to a street race. My 1997 Buick LeSabre is understandably an extremely tempting target to want to race, but it was still a little surprising on the interstate. A truck louder than most airplanes caught up next to me, then the driver looked me straight in the eye and started lurching forward without breaking eye contact. If that’s not a challenge to a race, then Hollywood has deceived me. As MUCH as that made me want to stay anywhere close to him, though, I thought I’d let him off easy.

The second – We met an extremely precocious baby robin at one of the rest stops. He flew straight into the back of my dad’s legs, then landed on the sidewalk and chirped at us angrily for quite a while. When we apparently didn’t do what he wanted, he flew straight for my face. I ducked; he landed on the car and tried again to get us big dumb dumbs to understand him. When that didn’t work, though, he jumped straight onto my mom and hung out on her back for a while. Totally serious. 

HE WAS SO PROUD OF HIMSELF.

We eventually got the little guy to hop off onto the grass, but I’m sure he’ll find some other innocent rest stop-goers that speak bird a little better than we do.

Apart from those two things, the drive was very quiet. It was a beautiful day and my poor, rickety car held up remarkably well. All in all, it was about the best start we could have asked for. Here’s hoping for more uneventful days! 

T Minus Three Weeks

Today marks three weeks until I move. Three weeks.

I’ve never really been the best sleeper, but that realization has kept me awake even further into the wee small hours of the morning, staring at the ceiling, trying to wrap my head around what it means. It means that I get to move to a new apartment. It means that I get to start a spectacular program in something I am fascinated by. It means that I will be starting out with no friends. It means I will get to make new friends. It means that I finally get to adopt a cat. It means that the most fun chapter of my life so far is ending. It means that I’m leaving everything I know behind.

My favorite band recently released a song that I immediately connected with. It encompasses all those things (except the cat adoption, unless you stretch it). Here it is, if you’d like to listen:

That song makes me feel better about going into the unknown. I put this playlist together as a result:

..I am a little nervous. It helps to be reminded that there’s something waiting for me (and to be reminded often).

My favorite line in the song is “there’s a thousand voices saying the time is now.”

It was absolutely preposterous how everything worked together for me to be going to Michigan. I told you about a lot of it in the last post: about how I got accepted to a program I applied to just for kicks because (I thought) there was absolutely no chance I would get in, about how it wasn’t even an option for me to stay with my friends in Iowa City, and about everybody being so excited for me that I had people congratulate me when I didn’t think they even knew. If that’s not a thousand voices telling me the time is now, then I don’t know what it is.

The song gets one thing wrong, though. I’m not on my own.

My friend recently brought up the idea of “forever friends,” and it’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about. It put words (alliterative, no less) to something I needed to hear: I’ll always have good people in my life, even when we’re not in the same place. Thats what forever friends means to me – that distance won’t dissolve the relationship. Unfortunately, that doesn’t stop tears from springing into my eyes every time I think about leaving. Merrrg.

Oh well. Despite most things in my life causing me to get this look:

I’m hanging in there. I am reminding myself of what will be sticking with me – my forever friends and the support and excitement of the people in my life. So I’m preparing to let go of the world I know, armed with the support of my friends and family and hours of good music (some of it is not even that song).

 

I’ll write again when I am actually moving, so until then, thank you for reading!